Has anyone conducted a study on the rise of mental health issues since the SCOTUS appointed GWB?

[BeHereNow]

It is a question that has crossed my mind for several years now-
I think we, as a nation are suffering from collective PTSD.

If you reflect on the last decade, or more specifically, your personal life
since Bush and Cheney and their associates took control of this country,
thanks to the SCOTUS and other PTB, can you, like me, see a decline
in your mental health? More depressed, less hope than before the Bush/Cheney assault on us?

I will admit that there have been personal events, unrelated to the BFEE,
that have influenced my health, but upon reflection, I see that had the
country not been dragged to never ending war by the neocons, I might
have managed personal tragedies better.

Ever since 2001, I, and others I know, seem to have had a decline in
health: mentally, physically and spiritually.

Does anyone know if a study on the correlation of health and creeping fascism has been conducted?

I would be curious to know the results.

Sincerely asking,
BHN

[krispos42]

1. It would explain the TeaBaggers. n/t

[BeHereNow]

3. And so much more...

Seriously, I think the country has gone "mad."
It was seriously neurotic before, but I think we have
officially gone insane now.
We woke up to discover that everything we were programmed to believe
was manufactured to benefit people who had ZERO allegiance to this country
and yet wrapped themselves in a flag and armed themselves with a bible
to convince us otherwise.
Sinclair Lewis warned us of them, as did others.
BHN

[Wind Dancer]

15. Well said.

Feels like we're living in the Twilight Zone.

[BeHereNow]

16. Exactly- it doesn't feel "real" sometimes-

When I do venture out of my cave, I feel like I am
watching a movie out "there."

I have this strange sense of being invisible and disconnected from it all.
An observer of a catastrophic event unfolding in slow motion.

You know those dreams where you can't speak, or scream?
That is what it feels like when I am in public spaces.

I have been shutting my phone off for days now too.
I know my friends think I am rude, but I just can't talk to anyone right now.

BHN

[Wind Dancer]

19. Sad to say,

I know EXACTLY how you feel. It's hard to explain those feelings to most people since they just don't get it. I've been struggling with this for a long time and it's only getting worse.

In addition, I've personally had to deal with our healthcare system on a regular basis. It's a nightmare with no end in sight.

So no......... you are not alone.

[Tumbulu]

2. I know of no studies and share your curiosity

I produce an eco-product that was manufactured in the US. But since the SCOTUS fiasco, the industry almost completely collapsed and the mood among buyers has remained gloomy and despondent. Things have begun to pick up since President Obama took office, but not in a big way yet....

I think that you are on to something big!

[BeHereNow]

5. I have always conducted "self examination" of myself and I know this-

As an avid reader, consumer of information and so forth,
my health has declined, partially due to personal sorrow as
I mentioned in my OP, but I think now, largely due to the
damage done to this country by the Bush/Neocon administration.

Everything looks SO much more hopeless to me than it did ten years ago.
I thank the universe every day for the love and support DU has been since then.
BHN

[napoleon_in_rags]

4. Yeah, absolutely.

Its been a slow downward spiral for all know since 9/11, but you could look at as starting sooner.

That whole time was when the narrative changed. We have the issues, involving what we are doing and what we are leaving for future generations, etc. The sense before that was that we needed to collectively put our noses to the grindstone to deal with these issues, make sure we were leaving a decent world for our children, and so on. Then 9/11 changed the narrative, we were morally off the hook for all that we were doing, and instead the world was focused on finding this small group of people called "terrorists", that were behind the world's ills. This all important quest was to be done by secretive shadowy forces, using mysterious means, but somehow was to be the central focus of everybody's life even though we could not aid in the quest: The fixing of the world was to be left to professionals.

But nothing really changed. The path we are walking is still unsustainable. You can look at environment/resources if you're on the left, debt if you're on the right, but its still all the same thing: We are all living in a way that make things rotten for future generations. Every time I drive my gas guzzling truck I feel it, the oil that will cost $15 a gallon for future generations without us having used the time of cheap energy to build them infrastructure that makes living with expensive energy possible. The moral narrative for our lives is lost. So you can't go deep, you can't look at the big picture without despairing. And you can never address that, because if you do that you're pulling attention away from the all important enemy, the demons who are so evil - be it Al Qaeda or whoever the next one is - that you become the enemy, a "hater of America". Moral improvement for the country is thus never possible.

[jberryhill]

6. It's still about 4 or 5 out 9 incidence

[MindMover]

7. I have not read this one yet.....

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0803215509/ref=kinw_rke_rti_1

From Scientific American
Is there any connection between the way individuals think about their lives and relationships and the way societies behave toward their citizens? Israel W. Charny, a psychologist working in Israel who has devoted his practice to family and couples counseling and much of his life to a study of genocide, believes there is. "Fascist-type thinking," he says, leads to destroyed relationships and thwarted lives for individuals and to authoritarianism and genocide at the societal level. Charny plies his postulate not at the simplistic level of "the Nazis committed genocide because they were crazy" but in the sense that all of us have both "fascist" and "democratic" components to our minds. The fascist programs, which he likens to human software, "tell you what to do with certainty, without questioning or alternative frames of reference.... They instill in you a sense of superiority." In contrast, the programs of the democratic mind invite responsibility for choosing one’s direction in life, support questioning and are "accompanied by a readiness to change." He explains why fascist ideas seduce both societies and individuals who crave solutions to life’s complexities and why the results are catastrophic for both. Democratic ways of thinking and an openness to other people and new ideas—although they provoke uncertainty and anxiety—are his alternative prescription for individuals and societies that prize humanity. Once Charny sets out these fairly simple ideas he expands on them by citing a vast array of writers, most of them psychologists, who have discussed the abuse of power to illustrate the consequences of fascist systems—especially when the abuse leads to genocide. And to provide examples of both fascist and democratic behaviors in personal life, he includes scores of case histories from his many decades of work in American and Israeli mental health clinics. The discussion gives him ample opportunity to list his dislikes—Hitler, Stalin, Mao, the Taliban, Prozac and controlling parents—as well as his likes, such as child psychologist Bruno Bettelheim, good sex, psychologist and philosopher Erich Fromm, and the AlexanderTechnique of self-awareness and body control. He also tells lots of entertaining stories about patients. Unfortunately, the result is a book that is much too long for its message. What could have been a short essay about habits of mind and their personal and political implications swells into a repetitious, often self-serving mixture of the author’s opinions and favorite stories.
Jonathan Beard

[BeHereNow]

8. Oh wow- that is a powerful read...just watched "The Separation" with my daughter-

It's about the Serbian massacre- produced and directed by Angelina Jolie.
It took the International Community years to become involved, thank you Clinton and Albright.

As I watched it, I couldn't help thinking, "How far are we from such insanity when stochastic terrorism
is allowed and embraced for political purpose in this county?"


BHN

[MindMover]

9. Short answer is not to far.....if we continue on the present path.....

"He explains why fascist ideas seduce both societies and individuals who crave solutions to life’s complexities and why the results are catastrophic for both."

Fascism arises due to unmet psychological and sociological needs in a society.....the statement taken from the review above addresses the craving that our society is incurring.....which when simply put, are answers that we cannot come up with to questions that are out of each of our individual control.....in other words, I cannot change climate, I cannot go arrest Zimmerman, I cannot stop the carnage in Syria and other places around the world and the list goes on infinitum which then leads to: but I sure as hell can stop anyone from trying that shit around me.....hence, Homeland InSecurity.....and all the potential fascist evils that come along with feeling superior to your neighbor or friend or family member.....We crave solutions to life's complexities.....

[BeHereNow]

10. Make my cry, why don't ya?

You just nailed it- and I was hoping for some hope-
there is none, is there...?

Where is that estate listing for a cave I had bookmarked???

I have NO faith in my fellow humans for the practice of humanity at this point.
BHN

[MindMover]

11. I said if we continue on our current path......

Personally, I have to have faith and hope that we will find the answers simply because I know the answers are waiting for us......there are many more reasons to be hopeful than there are to be hopeless and helpless, because we are not helpless......so if you need a cave I have one for sale, just kidding.....I have much more hope and faith in humanity now than I did a year ago when there were dozens of dictators in the middle east....there are so many changes going on right now, it is exciting to be a part of it all......

[loyalsister]

12. Unknowable

When it comes to mental health, it is only recently that there has been an admission of under-diagnosis. Combine that with the fact that it has been accompanied by an increase in inaccurate self diagnoses. When the initial reality of mental illness hit the main stream there were suddenly a great number of inaccurate self diagnoses. ie. Grief was suddenly self- diagnosed as major depression, etc. Television marketing of anti-depressants has also contributed.

As far as physical health, the massive baby boom population has been entering late middle age and having
more health problems. The "greatest generation" has been living very long. We also have injured veterans that increase those numbers.

Effects of those variables combined is pretty much immeasurable in a context of comparing incidence. I see no path to any factual answers. However, one's personal feelings about their personal health and a timeline is important information that should not be ignored.

[libtodeath]

13. I dont know of any studies but it seems every day there is something new to be discouraged over

this week the supreme court fascists ready to happily deny healtcare access to untold millions,a couple weeks past a man like limpballs should have been shamed into a corner but goes on,the ever increasing violence the right wing is committing.
It is hard not to look around and wonder how the world has gone so mad but then in the same breath realize we must continue to fight for what should be.

[BeHereNow]

14. The "fight" seems futile- Sisyphus comes to mind...

My outrage meter broke a few years ago-
I wish I could put the horse back in the barn- not know what I know
and all that.

It's just overwhelming to me most of the time.

I went to dinner with a friend a few nights ago-
It was nice to see her, we had delicious Sushi and a nice conversation,
but I could not wait to get home.

When I am out in public, I feel like I literally have no skin-
and that I am constantly being assaulted by noise, crazed and aggressive drivers,
crowds everywhere-

I didn't used to feel this way-
I used to like doing things out in the world, now it is simply overwhelming!
And I KNOW it started with the BFEE take over...
BHN

[Tumbulu]

18. I understand your feeling...

it is as though the shock of believing that most people either do not care that this has happened, or worse yet, support that this has happened is just too much.....

[libtodeath]

17. It is not futile nor was it

for the founders and patriots before us.
Giving up never won a thing.